


Touch

by Browneyesparker



Series: Symphonies [3]
Category: Perception (TV)
Genre: Dustin O'Halloran, F/M, First Kiss, Friendship, Romance, Snow, Touch, symphonies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-03-12
Packaged: 2018-03-17 14:23:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3532634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Browneyesparker/pseuds/Browneyesparker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate would come over every day to visit him. She took him on long walks, even when it was snowing out. Sometimes in the milky twilight, she would take his hand and weave their gloved fingers together, not realizing that she was causing his heart to somersault with unbound glee at the little bit of touch that she allowed him, her voice warmed his soul.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Touch

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from the Dustin O’Halloran track, Touch from the movie “Breathe In”.

 

 

.  
Touch [tuhch] noun, 30. The act of touching; state or fact of being touched. 32. The quality of something touched that imparts sensation.

It had been months since she had returned and he still hadn’t told her that he loved her. Every time he went to say it, he choked on his words. He was terrified that saying I love you would frighten her off and that he would lose her again. He didn’t want to spiral down into a world where he could only talk to fake Kates that his subconscious conjured up because he couldn’t function without her.

So, he bit his tongue and swallowed his pills and went to sessions with his therapist, trying to be a good patient for the sake of Lewicki and Kate while he tried to pretend that he didn’t love her.

When he wasn’t pretending not to love her and in between getting ready to go back to school, Kate would come over every day to visit him. She took him on long walks, even when it was snowing out. Sometimes in the milky twilight, she would take his hand and weave their gloved fingers together, not realizing that she was causing his heart to somersault with unbound glee at the little bit of touch that she allowed him, her voice warmed his soul.

One particularly cold winter day, they took a walk to the park a few miles from his house. Kate dusted the snow off one of the swings and sat down on it. “Push me?” she requested, her dark brown eyes begged him to say yes. 

Feeling absurdly childish, he went over to her and pulled the swing back before gently pushing her back and forth, watching as she gained momentum. An uncharacteristic giggle spilled from her throat, echoing off of the barren trees and the empty park, she sounded like she didn’t have a care in the world. After a few minutes of solid swinging, she jumped off the swing and tumbled into the snow, lying on her back.

“Kate!” Daniel yelled, running towards her to make sure she was okay.

Laughing, she pulled him down beside her. “Don’t worry Daniel, I’m fine!”

It felt silly, lying there in the snow beside her, staring up at the gray clouds that were threatening them with yet another shower of white flakes sooner than later. He breathed in deeply and looked over at Kate, who had her eyes closed in blissful contentment. He turned his face heavenward again, a second later he felt her hand slide down his arm and find his hand. He released his breath with one great whoosh and closed his fingers around her’s. 

“You know, we’ll probably get sick from lying out in the snow like this,” Daniel said tentatively. 

Kate laughed and turned her head to look at him. “Didn’t you ever make snow angels when you were a kid?”

“Sure,” Daniel answered sheepishly. “But I had a snowsuit on and boots. . . I wasn’t wearing a pea coat and Converse sneakers.”

“Well, if you’re so worried about it. . .” Kate said, releasing his hand and sitting up. “Maybe we should get home anyways, it’s around dinnertime and we don’t want Max to worry about us.”

Daniel sat up too and looked at her for the longest time, moving his hand to her face to brush a strand of hair from her wind-nipped cheek. She smiled at him and he took it as a good sign but he couldn’t make himself close the gap between them to kiss her even though he wanted to. After a few minutes, he got to his feet and pulled her up with him, surprised that he could lift the both of them without falling back into the white powder beneath their feet. 

It was another missed opportunity, he backed away from her as soon as they were standing, dropping her hand like it had burned him. He was shocked to see that she looked disappointed by the loss of contact between them. There was a pause before she adjusted her navy blue knit cap and then took a step towards him, taking his hand again without any fanfare.

“Come on Daniel,” she said quietly. “Let’s go home now.”

“Okay,” Daniel agreed as they waded through the snow and to the park entrance together. 

Kate stopped when they reached the gate, there was hesitation written all over her face, like she was afraid to say what she was thinking or act out on something. He felt his heartbeat accelerate slightly and suddenly he was more paranoid than he had been ever since she came back to him in November, he just knew she was going to deliver some devastating blow. He braced himself for it, for the news she was going to move into her own apartment and leave him to rattle around his big old house with Lewicki as his only companion. 

There weren’t any words though. Just a pair of lips on his, they tasted like Burt’s Bee’s lip balm and cherry Lifesavers that were leftover from Christmas. He didn’t know how to respond even though it was something he had been wanting to do for a long time. 

Finally, his brain caught up with his mouth and he returned her lips with fervor. He still couldn’t find the words to tell her, but he knew they would come later when he could sort of think straight again.

“Was that okay?” Kate asked cautiously a few seconds later, when she breaks their kiss with a smacking sound.

Daniel swallowed and nodded. “It was,” he assured her, squeezing her hand. “Actually, you don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that!”

“I sort of had an idea,” Kate admitted. “I was wondering what was taking you so long though!”

“I’m sorry?” Daniel said, mostly because he thought it was what she wanted him to say.

“It’s okay,” Kate assured him. “I understand that it’s hard for you. . . this, it isn’t so easy for me either. I think I still have major trust issues.”

“I’m not going to do what Donne did to you,” Daniel told her; putting his hand under her chin and raising it so her eyes could meet his. “You know that, right? I need you to know that.”

“My head knows it but my heart. . . it’s still trying to catch up.”

Daniel refrained from saying anything about her heart, too afraid to say anything that would ruin the moment between them. “I promise Kate, I will never do what Donnie did to you! He didn’t know what he was giving up.”

He didn’t remind her that she had other things to worry about with him anyways like descents into madness and hallucinations and forgotten on purpose medications when his prescriptions were having adverse side-effects. Besides, she already knew, she could have ran at the end of November when the doctors suggested that she move in with him and Max to lessen the chances of imaginary Kate coming back.

“Come on Daniel,” Kate said, interjecting into his thoughts. “Let’s go home.”

He nodded, feeling a little bit lighter than he had in a while. He knew they would have obstacles to overcome going forward, that there was still things that he needed to say to her aloud, but for now he would be content with the subtle shift in their relationship. They both needed to take things slow; him because he couldn’t take too much change all at once and her because she was still trying to deal with leftover hurt feelings from Donnie betraying her not once but twice. 

But he knew they would be able to face it all together. They had already been doing it all along, this time there would just be a different name to it this time. 

Love.

It frightened him but he was going to try and be brave, for her sake. For his. He already knew that he wasn’t anything without her; he couldn’t let her go. . . not this time. He fell into step beside her and decided that one day, he would find the words inside himself to tell her just that.

He hoped that she would be patient with him.

Stealing a glance at her as they started to walk home, he was sure she would be.

_The End_

.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ll be the first to admit that I am not the best Daniel & Kate writer, but I do love to try. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this one-shot. I do have a few more planned, especially now since the show is ending. Please review and tell me what you thought, if you have a spare minute or two.
> 
> Until Next Time!


End file.
